Heavenly voices

As I crossed the gates and passed through the grand courtyard of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, I started to hear angelic voices. Now, the songs rattling around my brain can often be vivid, but if I were to provide the Mandarin lyrics, they’d be composed entirely of phrases such as “Where’s the subway?” and “I want that one”. Not very poetic. Finally I got close enough to see a group of singers/instrumentalists.

No, these voices were definitely from outside my skull.

Upon completion of my tourist duties (i.e. conspicuously taking video with my phone), I wandered further to meet Tanu and Kristin. Here we were, at the Temple of Heaven--where the Emperor offered sacrifices to appease the harvest gods! What better way to celebrate the hallowed ground than by a photo shoot of jumping photos!?

Note: this is actually the second jump shot attempt. In the first, instead of “sticking” my landing, I definitely landed with my center of balance too far back, which resulted in a tailbone-crushing fall (and shudders from the forming audience of Chinese tourists). I blame my dress shoes. But, ever the performer, I feigned comfort and took a second shot at it, and executed a 10.0 quality toe-touch to jubilant (or at least meager but enthusiastic) applause. Chinese olympic gymnasts, eat your hearts out.

There were several temples in the complex, and one had a placard that described the ceiling as having intricate designs, culminating in an elaborate dragon in the center holding a pearl. Based on my knowledge of Chinese Temple architecture (my sole source is "Kung Fu Panda"), I anticipated a huge wooden dragon hanging from the the ceiling with a basketball-sized pearl clutched between snarling teeth. Something like...

what I saw:

curse you, Disney (er.. DreamWorks) for providing me with unrealistic expectations! I suppose it is very intricate and impressive and... colorful, but no flashbacks to Jurassic Park were made.

After our jaunt through the temples, we rested (popsicles were involved, of course). And we made some new friends! Excited to practice their English (and encouraged by parents who pay for private lessons, no doubt), we noticed two young girls who shyly and slowly approached us. Many giggles and well-rehearsed lines later, we were the best of friends. Here’s a photo to prove it.

guy to the left wants to be our friend, too.

On our way out of the Temple complex (and among getting lost in a matrix of trees and bushes), we found another large choral group. It was my turn to speak a foreign language, so I chatted with an older lady who was listening and singing and through broken Chinese asked:
“Can we listen?” Her response (well, what I infer from what I could pick out): “Of course! You can sing if you’d like, too!” After dodging what would most certainly be an embarrassing situation (remember the badminton hacky sack ordeal?), I also asked how often they sing, and apparently they get together on Sunday afternoons (are you proud of me, mom?).

And here’s another video clip to send you on your way.